. >> of this ain't rocket science. it would take 15 minutes from the time the decision was made by the speaker of the house to have pass and make permanent middle class tax cut. the president would probably have me sprint up to the hill to bring the bill down for him to sign. >> nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house. i believe mike could beat joe biden in a race. while the vice president is talking to real people about the real issues they face, house speaker john boehner once again slammed the president today claiming he's slow walking these negotiations. is there more going on behind the scenes than we're being led to believe? >> reporter: martin, i'm going to read a few tea leaves for you here. i'm going to go way out on a limb. the issue is that 35% where that top rate is now, is it going to go back to 39.6% where it was in the clinton administration. the president insists it must go up. how much? that's the question. whispering around washington for weeks has been there could be a promise around 37%. list